Visited Exhibit: Costumes of Downton Abbey: Part 1: Names!

L to R: Rob, Cristina, Tom

Costumes of Downton Abbey is an original exhibition of exquisite designs from the award-winning television series that is currently at the Winterthur estate in Delaware. We got to visit it over the weekend of March 22-23.

WINTERTUR IN BRIEF -  Founded by Henry Francis du Pont, Winterthur (pronounced “winter-tour”) is the premier museum of American decorative arts, reflecting both early America and the du Pont family’s life here.  We'll tour you through the Winterthur home in a blog later this week.

Opening of the exhibit

THE DOWNTON ABBEY COSTUME EXHIBIT -   The Downton exhibit runs from March 2014 to January 2015 and it's really cool. Our friend Cristina came along with us and that made it all the more special (Thanks to her hubby Will for allowing us to steal her away!)

Cristina and Tom at the character wall

THE CHARACTER WALL -  We've watched Downton Abbey for all four seasons and just by going to the character wall - photos of each character with their names, we finally learned the first names of 3 of the characters!

Sarah O'Brien

O'BRIEN- The lady's maid, or Lady Cora's maid has always been referred to as "O'Brien." When we visited the exhibit we learned her first name was "Sarah"!

Beryl Patmore

MRS. PATMORE -  We also learned that Mrs. Patmore's first name is Beryl! Mrs. Patmore is the cook at Downton Abbey and she runs her kitchen under tight control.

MRS. HUGHES- One of our absolute favorite characters on the show. Her first name is "Elsie. " Mrs. Huges is the head housekeeper and she is in charge of all the female servants. More or less, she runs the entire servant branch of Downton Abbey. She is very stoic, but she is ethical and never two-sided.

We can't recall any of these character's first names ever being mentioned before, so this was pretty cool. : ) 

These were outfits worn during the announcement WWI began

We loved looking at the amazing layered costumes and reading the descriptions. There were also several television screens that showed the characters wearing the outfits, and many large photos of the actor in the outfit exhibited.

WWI ANNOUNCEMENT COSTUMES -  One of the largest displays came from the scene during Season 2 when Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham  (or Lord Grantham) announced that World War 1 began. It was on the lawn in front of the home. Three costumes from that scene were shown here. 1) Anna's maid's outfit, 2) Lady Sybill's dress and hat and 3) Lady Mary's dress and hat.

NEXT: LADY EDITH'S AMAZING WEDDING GOWN, AND A COOL WARDROBE FACT 





 

THE DOWNTON EXHIBIT - Forty historically inspired costumes from the television show will be displayed and supplemented by photographs and vignettes inspired by the fictional program and by real life at Winterthur.   A co-production of Carnival Films and Masterpiece, Downton Abbey depicts life in an aristocratic household of the fictional Earl and Countess of Grantham and is one of the most popular and critically acclaimed period dramas ever produced.\
More information: http://www.winterthur.org/downtonabbey